Posted on 11/07/2007 8:53:07 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger swept into office in 2003 promising to end the state's pattern of "crazy deficit spending," cut up the government credit cards for good and force the state to finally live within its means.
So much for that.
Experts say the state's spending habits are no more restrained than they were when Schwarzenegger arrived in Sacramento four years ago. The budget has grown by a staggering 40%. Costly programs have been launched.
And spending has continued to outpace tax receipts year after year -- even years when housing and tech booms led to cash windfalls.
Now the governor finds himself in a predicament similar to that of his predecessor, Democrat Gray Davis: staring at a crippling budget shortfall that threatens to overshadow all other business in the Capitol and tarnish his political legacy.
On Monday, Schwarzenegger ordered all state agencies to prepare plans to cut spending across the board by 10% next year. Education, transportation and healthcare will all be affected. Some programs face elimination. Layoffs may loom. The state's budget shortfall, thanks largely to the troubled housing market, has ballooned from a few billion dollars projected at the beginning of the year to $10 billion.
Experts are not surprised.
"There has been lots of talk and lots of gimmicks, but none of the state's underlying budget problems have been dealt with," said Ryan Ratcliff, an economist at the UCLA Anderson Forecast. "Even in the middle of a revenue boom, we kept spending more than we take in."
Candidate Schwarzenegger condemned such fiscal policy in 2003. He challenged voters frustrated with the state's mismanagement of the budget to oust Davis. Now, on his watch, the same problems are creeping back.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Some will say it is where he could do the least damage, others that it is where he could at least put an R back in a senate seat..
helluva dilemma indeed.
who ya gonna believe.
How many believe he would work to turn this state around from its rush over the edge and voted for him on that alone?
how many honestly feel surprised he has done th opposite, albeit slowing some of the madness, all the while ratcheting it up in other ways..
in over his head he is and now so are all of us..
in debt.
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